Lagos State Governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, has denied stories claiming he sued the Financial and Monetary Crimes Fee (EFCC) over alleged menace to arrest, detain and prosecute him after his tenure as governor.
The rebuttal was made by Lawal Pedro, SAN Hon. Lawyer Common and Commissioner for Justice, Lagos State, on Tuesday.
Experiences had filtered out that Sanwo-Olu, by means of his lawyer, Darlington Ozurumba, filed the basic proper enforcement swimsuit towards EFCC earlier than Justice Joyce Abdulmalik of a Federal Excessive Courtroom in Abuja.
The Information Company of Nigeria (NAN) reported that within the originating summons, marked: FHC/ABJ/CS/773/2024 dated and filed on June 6, the governor raised seven questions and sought 11 reliefs.
In keeping with the report, Sanwo-Olu sought a declaration that beneath and by advantage of the provisions of Part 37 of the 1999 Structure, “the plaintiff, as a citizen of Nigeria, is entitled to proper to personal and household life at the least assure encapsulated beneath the Structure of the Republic of Nigeria, 1999 earlier than, throughout and after occupation of public workplace created by the Structure.”
The report mentioned the governor mentioned that the plan to arrest him by EFCC was unconstitutional and a flagrant violation of his basic proper to private liberty and freedom of motion as assured beneath Sections 35(1) & (4) and 41(1) of the Structure of the federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 ( as amended).
Reacting, the AG denied the contents of the report.
“We have to make clear that Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, at no time, sued or briefed any authorized practitioner to file a swimsuit on his behalf regarding the above subject material.
“Additionally, it’s disingenuous for the Governor who enjoys immunity as conferred on him by the Structure and has virtually three years forward of him to transient any lawyer on this sort of matter.
“To the very best of my data and my inquiry confirmed that the EFCC isn’t investigating the Governor and has by no means invited him or threatened arrest of any member of his workers, home or in any other case.We’re at present investigating how the case got here to be with out our data,” he mentioned.
He added that Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu has been an exemplar by way of service supply, prudent and considered administration of the general public sources.
“Due to this fact, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu who’s busy working assiduously on find out how to enhance the residing situations of all Lagosians doesn’t have something to concern when he ultimately leaves workplace on the finish of his tenure in Might 2027,” he added.
He enjoined media organisations to be cautious of the sort of stories they entertain.
As reported by NAN, throughout the listening to on Tuesday, Ozurumba knowledgeable the courtroom that he had withdrawn the preliminary originating summons and changed it with a brand new one.
In case, Sanwo-Olu reportedly additional urged the courtroom to declare the EFCC’s actions as an unwarranted interference together with his basic rights to private liberty, freedom of motion, honest listening to, and equal safety beneath the regulation, as assured by the Structure and the African Constitution on Human and Peoples’ Rights, CAP A9 LFN 2004.
Moreover, Sanwo-Olu prayed for an order stopping the EFCC from inviting, arresting, or detaining him over issues regarding his tenure as governor. He emphasised the necessity for the courtroom to guard his basic rights to private liberty, honest listening to, personal and household life, freedom of motion, and the acquisition of movable and immovable property, as enshrined in Nigerian regulation.
